Monthly Archives: July 2014

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Instead of answering the 5 serious, important questions the reporter wanted to ask him;

The police service in England and Wales has lost 16,000 officers in five years, and faces further budget cuts; according to HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, some small forces won’t be viable in a few years. What does Sir Bernard think should be done?
Police have no real idea about the scale of cybercrime or how to tackle it. Does he have any thoughts?

The Met is moving 50 officers from murder squads to its overstretched child abuse teams — is the commissioner worried that the fixation on historical abuse cases puts vulnerable kids at greater risk today?

The Plebgate affair exploded from a silly spat in Downing Street into a crisis that has eroded confidence in British policing. Is Sir Bernard ready to admit his failings over its handling — not least the decision not to nip in the bud the whole thing by holding a proper inquiry immediately?

Amid stories of a bellowing, bullying culture at the Yard why did he move a hugely experienced officer from her job as head of counterterrorism in the most volatile security atmosphere for years? What caused him to sideline the senior officer who delivered the successful security operation at the 2012 Olympics until the man felt he had no option but to leave the Met?

And just why does he need to recruit a £98,000-a-year “expert relationship manager” to “control his media profile”?

he sends an invitation to join him at the gym to witness him doing the mandatory Fitness Test.

Then came the dreadful news that officer ‘E7’ has been charged with MURDER following the fatal shooting of Azelle Rodney in April 2005. Personally I know nothing about this tragic event, only what I have read in the press. It was reported that Mr Rodney was shot 6 times, in the arm, back and head.

All I can say on the matter is that EVERY single Firearms Officer that I ever came into contact with took was fully aware of their responsibilities and took them very seriously indeed.

The balance is a tricky one, very tricky indeed.

I am in no way suggesting that Police Officers should be given Carte Blanche to go round putting 6 rounds into everyone they take a dislike to, but part of their job is to make Life or Death (literally) split-second decisions before they pull their trigger, or not. If they now have to add in thinking “but hang on a mo, E7 did that and he’s up on a murder charge” in the time it’s taken you to read that the officer could be dead.

If the evidence can show that this was a premeditated act by E7 then the charge of murder is presumably valid.

I have never been unfortunate enough to have to carry a firearm, but I have been deployed on operations in high-risk situations where Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs) were deployed to a) protect us and b) get us out if the wheel became disconnected. On every single occasion a full Operational Strategy and Risk Assessment were prepared, along with an awful lot of What If scenarios. Professionalism personified.

In her statement to the Media, DPP, Alison Saunders said “……

Following the outcome of the public inquiry, the Independent Police Complaints Commission re-referred the matter to the CPS, providing us with the evidence previously gathered and the further evidence and material which has emerged since the initial referral.

“We have carefully considered the new file of evidence submitted to us and have decided that a former Metropolitan Police officer, currently identified only as E7, will be prosecuted for murder……………We have determined that there is a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution is in the public interest.”

Not much room for doubting what’s in her mind then.

If I WAS an AFO now, I would seriously be considering handing back my authorisation. Every single one of those officers is a Volunteer. No officer is ever forced to undergo Firearms Training, except to ‘reclassify’ at regular intervals after initial training. There are also loads of psychometric tests to pass as well. They volunteer to put their lives at risk for the Public Good. They are human, sometimes, but not very often, tragic mistakes are made, but in my view that is exactly what they are, mistakes, not evil acts by rogue officers.

If the AFOs of London now decided to surrender their Authorisations en masse, chaos would ensue.

There would be no armed operations conducted by the Met, none at all.

Cabinet Ministers (and others entitled to Protection) would not get the Armed Guard they should be getting.

Neither will visiting Diplomats.

Neither will the Royal Family.

It won’t happen, mainly because the officers are too professional and they fully realise the consequences, but it SHOULD happen in my opinion.

A similar, but slightly less serious, situation exists with Police Drivers. They are trained to very high levels. However, again, occasionally things go tragically wrong.

I know from my own personal experience that there is a total lack of support when the round, black thing comes off. In my own case I was immediately suspended from driving, served a summons by my Inspector on Christmas Eve (that does NOT happen to members of the public, and is totally unnecessary), faced a full trial in the Magistrates Court and at the end of it found Not Guilty, mainly, I think, because it’s difficult to prove a case of Driving Without Due Care and Attention against the Police Driver when the Police car is stationary and is hit by a low-flying Porsche travelling at 113 miles per hour.

When I returned to my Station from Court and announced my acquittal, a certain Chief Inspector from Traffic said “We all know what happens at Court lad, the Innocent get convicted and the Guilty go free”

I never did drive a Police car in anger again after that. Despite being reinstated as a Police Driver I had forcibly realised that my own Driving Licence was at risk, and there was no support from the organisation. Police Drivers are also Volunteers, and if every Police Officer refused to carry a Firearm and refuses to drive a Police Vehicle I dread to think of the consequences.

I’m not recommending Indemnity from anything, but some support would be nice, and, until it comes, TJF.

Before you all shout at me and say that there is support in other areas, that dried up long ago. My partner at the time went to see the Chief Superintendent asking for some Compassionate Leave because his wife had been admitted to hospital and the kids needed looking after. I kid you not, his response was “Put your kids into Care temporarily”.

Slowly, bit by bit, everything that was good about the Job is being whittled away, and I truly struggle to understand why folk do it now.

I’m going to get flak for this, but I’m not advocating immunity. I do, however, think it’s time for a full study of the stresses and strains of Firearms Operations in particular. A fuller understanding of what it’s like being that officer needs to be obtained. I don’t have the answer, and I’m not claiming that I do.

Don’t just take the ramblings of an old goat as Gospel, try to put yourself in the position of an AFO, finger on trigger, already been at work for nearly 8 hours, possibly you have one or more guns pointed at you. There might be members of the public caught up in the situation. You’ve probably already got more than enough going on in your head, do you really NEED further distractions, worrying even more than usual about the consequences of getting this wrong? One thing you definitely do not need is anything that will slow down and/or impair the quality of your thought process by way of distraction. You are a Professional, fully aware of the potential consequences of your situation.

Maybe Alison Saunders, the DPP, has been a Firearms Officer in a previous career, in which case she’ll understand perfectly. If she hasn’t, then just maybe her words could have been better chosen.

A spokesperson for the Met said “……Our officers are highly-trained and professional and fire shots only once or twice a year.”

Keith Vaz MP, the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: “This is an important step towards justice. No one is above the law ………..”

Numbers have been in my mind for many reasons recently, but at the end of the day, what are they worth? Do they really mean anything? Do they have any value?

The number of Police Officers in England and Wales. We all know it’s falling, we all know why it’s falling. I have sais it before and I will keep saying it until someone ‘in the know’ gives me an answer. Targets were set for each Force for their total manpower levels in 2015 as part of their ‘Austerity’ savings. These numbers are recorded and published by HMIC they are publicly available. So why, oh why, have some Forces cut their numbers BELOW the agreed 2015 levels already? Why do they need to? Why have they done it? What kind of Risk/Impact Assessment was done?

I have sat through far too many Tasking Meetings to think that Tasking Groups never massaged the figures. In the main they were honestly led, good valid, tactical options were openly discussed and where resources and the budget permitted, operational strategies were drawn up to tackle the problems identified and drive the numbers down. It is only later in life that I learn of the Bonus System for senior managers, and the cynical part of me now looks at all of those Tasking Meetings in a whole new light. Bonuses have NO part to play in a Police Officer’s remuneration package, ANY RANK.. We also need to remember that successive Home Secretaries have been changing the Counting Rules on a seemingly Annual basis. How hypocritical is that to feign shock and disbelief, and only blaming the Police, when they should be blaming themselves as well.

The NHS (and they are by no means alone) have a handy set of numbers too. The most important set is probably the one entitled Waiting List Times. Don’t any of you think that list isn’t fiddled. I have personally known patients waiting for surgery be sent an appointment to have their operation on Christmas Eve. Who wants that? So what happens? You politely decline the appointment, ask for a new one, waiting list times change cos you are now a fresh patient at the bottom of the list again. Need to make an appointment to see your GP for some routine matter, non-urgent. “Can I make an appointment to see Dr Smith in 6 weeks time please, he/she wants to see me again?” This will likely provoke a response something similar to “ No, sorry, we don’t have any appointments that far in advance, can you ring us back nearer the time and they will have been released onto our system”. What this really means is “If I give you an appointment today for 6 weeks time you’ll show up as a statistic, one of our patients who hasn’t been given an appointment within x days, so sorry, no, you can’t have one”

And finally, I am indebted to one of my friends who shared this (you know who you are)

Now this is excellent, this is number-fudging par excellence on a grand scale.

Zero Hours Contracts, that’s a bit like No Man’s Land, neither employed nor unemployed, could be either depending upon circumstances, but a good enough wheeze to keep SOME people out of the Unemployed category.

Workfare – another great scheme by IBS. Get people working in (frequently) menial positions in a strange effort to justify being paid Jobseekers Allowance, or whatever it’s called these days. If these jobs are actual vacancies within the company (or whatever) then let these people apply for them and be paid the going rate, THEN they can come off the Unemployed numbers. As it is Workfare is just Smoke and Mirrors and taking advantage of the Unemployed, many of whom actually want to work and hold down a worthwhile job, not just pitch up their local Charity Shop and have a ‘job’ ‘invented’ for them and get paid far less than the going rate.

JobSeekers Allowance Sanctions – that’s just another ruse to avoid paying paying people their Allowance and keep them off the books. There are NUMEROUS examples of these sanctions apparently being applied unfairly. Apply sanctions when its warranted yes, but be honest and consistent with their application, stop fudging the figures.

Disabled on Unpaid Workfare – Well I didn’t even know this was happening, so I can’t really comment, but if it is happening Shame on You DWP.

Unemployment Benefit/JobSeekers Allowance/Sickness Benefit/Disability Benefit – how many times have governments of ALL colours and hues swapped people from one list to another just to juggle the books and make one set of figures look better than they truly are. That’s where the true hypocrisy creeps in. The Police have been condemned (with some justification) for fiddling their CrimeStats, but have government after government done with the Unemployed and Sick? That’s another scandal that’s been going on for as long as I can remember.

Come on Dave, sort it out. Be the leader with a true Quest For Truth. If you don’t like that option Opposition beckons next year, get used to it.

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Nothing whatsoever to do with a rather mediocre album of the same name.

More to do with serving prisoners on the run.

A recent spate of prisoners deciding not to return to their prisons after weekends out in the community inspired me to treat HM Prison Service to one of my #FOI requests.

I was curious to find out just how many serving prisoners are actually Unlawfully At Large.

Their response was to refuse my request, on the grounds that it would cost more than £600 to answer it.

Once I got over the initial shock and disappointment I continued reading and discovered that whilst they couldn’t actually give me an up-to-date figure they had sent me lots of historical information up to and including 2013, so almost as good, and in far more depth than I had originally requested.

I’m certainly not an expert on the Prison Service but I know someone who is, so if I make any fundamental errors I’m sure that person will steer me in the right direction.

Very helpfully they have included separate information for Public and Private prisons enabling an old cynic like me to make certain comparisons. How will the Private Sector compare?

The first little gem was ‘Mandatory Drug Tests’ (see, I told you they’d given more info than I asked for). Most years the percentage failing these tests was approx 1-2% higher in the Private Prisons, mot an astounding difference. In 2012-13 the percentage was 6.7% in Public Sector prisons and 8.9% in the Private Sector yielding a service total of 7.0%, so not really any great difference, but in the bad old days, well.

In 1998/99 the failure rate was 17.4% in the public sector and 27.6% in the private sector with a Service Total of 18.3% So well done to the Prison Service and their Contracted Out partners (who knew there were contracted out prisons in 1998?). Massive reductions achieved by both sectors which seems to have been relatively constant for a number of years now.

The prison population; has risen from 49,570 (Public) and 2,043 (Private) in 95/96 to 73,247 (Public) and 12,483 (Private) or from 51,613 to 85,895 in total since 95/96. That seems like quite a lot to me.

Overcrowding – now that’s a subject that frequently makes the news. The percentage of prisoners regarded as being in ‘overcrowded accommodation’ has unsurprisingly risen steadily since 1998/99. The number of overcrowded prisoners in the Public Sector has risen from 19.4% to 21.8% in 2012/13 and just fluctuated a little bit in the years between. In the Private Sector overcrowding has risen from 27.9% to 29.3%. Quite a bit different to State Prisons, does this tell us anything??

Prisoners ‘Doubled Up’ in a cell – I must confess I thought that was the norm, but the figures show that in 95/96 16.7% of prisoners in public prisons and 11.3% in the private sector were ‘Doubled Up’. By 2012/13 this had changed to 21.3% (Public) and 28.2% (Private), quite a change over the years, public sector coming down and private sector going up. Does this tell us anything?

Prison Escort Escapes – these were really quite high in 95/96 with 35 (Public and 1 (Private) but by 2010/11 these figures had come down to between 0 and 2, a really good improvement, well done.

Escapes From Prison – these are the figures that everybody dreads and it’s fair to say tha the public sector did not do very well in the past, with 52,33,23, 28 and 30 respectively in the years 95/96 – 99/2000, set against the Private Sector’s 0-4 over the same period. Since 2008 both sectors have been reporting Prison Escapes between 0-2 per year. Much, much better.

The good news is that only 5 Category A escapes have been reported between 95 and 2013.

The Really bad news for the Public Sector seems to be with Absconders – between 19995 and 1999 the Public Sector saw approx. 1,000 Absconders per year against a total of 4 in the Private Sector. This has sort of settled at 175-250 in the Public Sector and 1 in the Private Sector. Does this tell us anything?

The Private Sector seems to have NO Absconders still at large (not that they lost many) but the Public Sector cannot claim the same, most years seeing double figures of Absconders who successfully remain at large.

Apart from an absolutely awful year in 1995/96 when the Private Sector only had 18% of its inmates released on Temporary Licence actually come back, both sectors have reported a minimum of 94% since then, well done both.

I’m not quite sure what the difference is but the last piece of bad news for the Public Sector is Temporary Release Failures To Return. Anyone tell me the difference between this and the previous category? Anyway the Private Sector have consistently performed well in this area, reducing a peak of 10 in 1995/96 gradually down to 2 in 2012/13. The Public Sector, however, has figures that have increased from 356 in 1995/96 to 429 in 2012/13, although, to be fair, they did go down to 248 in 2007/08, before creeping back up again. Does this tell us anything?

So, there we have it, much more information than I expected to receive and absolutely not the results I expected to see. The Private Sector seems to out-perform the Public in certain areas, but by no means all.

Where were we? Oh yes, back in 2012 The attention-grabbing headline back then was that 5,000 Police Officers had disappeared into the ether in the previous 12 months. So, how are we doing today? Well since then a further 6,191 have followed them.

Since the evil coalition came to power they have reduced the 43 Forces from 143,770 to 127,909 or 15,861 (11%) Police posts have GONE.

Many commentators have reported this today, but there is a bigger picture that I have yet to see reported prominently.

Our proud Police Family also includes Support Staff (civvies), PCSOs and Specials. How are they doing?

Support Staff

Pre-Coalition – 79,296

2012 – 67,472

2014 – 64,096

A loss since the coalition came in of 15,200 or 19.2%

PCSOs

Pre-Coalition – 16,507

2012 – 14,393

2014 – 13.066

A loss since the coalition came in of 3,441 or 20.8%

Special Constables

Pre-Coalition – 14,251

2012 – 20,343

2014 – 17,789

An overall gain since the coalition came in of 3,538 or 24.8% , but don’t forget the recent trend is also downwards after a peak in 2012

So at first glance it looks like the Specials are taking up some of the slack like Cruella said they would, but their numbers are currently reducing as well.

The Ouchy Bit

Total Police Family in 2009 was 253,824

2012 – 236,308

2014 – 222,861

A total loss to the Police Family of 30,963 or 12%.

Nearly 31,000 family members gone since this lot took power.

A certain politician was quoted today as saying that crime is down so the police have less to do.

Crime Stats have yet to be sorted out as far as I know

Police do far, far more than prevent and investigate crime

If he and our other politicians actually believe this rubbish then it’s not so much a case of TJF, more like The Country’s F******.

And finally, the important (it is important surely?), unanswered question.

I’m sure they all felt very proud, they have survived 25 long weeks at Henditz, and as a special reward they get to Pass Out not on the Parade Square at Hendon but in a Car Park at West Ham FC.

The reason for this?

“This was only the second time the parade has been held in a public place. The break with tradition is part of the Met’s bid to open doors to it’s traditions and give members of the public the opportunity to take pride in their police service.” Totally admirable if I believed a single word of it.

I may just have the answer, remember Henditz, and it’s fantastic Parade Square?

Well, now it’s more like this

So maybe a Car Park in Upton Park suddenly seems more appealing??

MPS Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said “…..Their family and friends should be extremely proud of them all. The parade recognises their commitment and I wish them every success for the future.

“The idea for holding the parades in public originally came from Toronto and as a public police it makes sense to hold the parade from time to time for all to see.”

Nothing to do with a chuffing great Building Site then Bernie?

And why West Ham?

Serious lack of judgement there by somebody I suggest. Does nobody do their homework any more.

Chris Hobbs (@obbsie) does, he does his homework and sometimes I get to see it, and thank you Chris for showing this particular piece:-

West Ham FC is owned by David Sullivan and David Gold.

David Sullivan has recently made it into headlines writ large for loaning £1million of West Ham’s money to a man called David Hunt. On the 4th May 2014 The Independent carried this headline:-

The wealthy co-owner of a Premier League football club made a £1m loan to a company controlled by David Hunt – three months after a High Court judge named Mr Hunt as the head of an organised crime network.

David Hunt – nicknamed “Long Fella” – was officially exposed last summer in a judgment by Mr Justice Simon after the crime boss brought an unsuccessful libel action against The Sunday Times.

A catalogue of damning claims emerged during the trial, including allegations that Scotland Yard viewed Mr Hunt’s gang, which had operated with impunity for more than 20 years, as “too big” and “too dangerous” to take on. During a covert operation codenamed Blackjack, the Metropolitan Police placed bugging equipment in a car showroom, which picked up an attack by Mr Hunt in which he had slashed the face of a man named Paul Cavanagh, who had upset an associate.

Mr Justice Simon also concluded that Mr Hunt had attacked and threatened to kill Billy Allen, a property developer, in 2006. He also ruled that Mr Hunt had engaged in money-laundering.

Two months after Mr Sullivan’s company made the loan to Mr Hunt’s firm, our sister newspaper The Independent revealed a secret Metropolitan Police report – codenamed Operation Tiberius…….The report by the Met’s anti-corruption team names four Met detectives “associated” with the syndicate, one of whom is high-profile and has given evidence to Parliament. Operation Tiberius reported that corrupt officers betrayed the Met by telling the Hunt syndicate about tracking devices placed on its vehicles, leaking information about police inquiries and carrying out checks on police intelligence databases.

I don’t normally have much time for the Daily Mail but they have previously reported this:-

As the Sunday Times revealed, three Met detectives are claiming that David Hunt, an East End businessman named by a judge last week as the head of an organised crime network, had used corrupt officers inside Scotland Yard to help him evade justice for some three decades.

Astoundingly, the Met had tried to throw the book at these three detectives who finally got onto his tail — one of whom, DCI David McKelvey, the former head of the crime squad in Newham, East London, had his career ruined and suffered a nervous breakdown as a result.

These detectives had warned Scotland Yard that Hunt had taken out a contract to kill them and that he had links to corrupt officers and council officials.

But instead, the three found themselves the target of what Mr Justice Simon called a ‘misdirected’ inquiry into baseless allegations of corruption — an inquiry which had ‘undoubtedly assisted’ Hunt in his efforts to avoid prosecution after he was arrested for blackmail, threats to kill and witness intimidation.

You can read much, much more in either or both of these items together with the Sunday Times, I apologise for the heavy use of Copy/Paste but they can tell the story so much better than I can.

David Charles Hunt appeared mild-mannered and courteous giving evidence at the high court. He felt crucified, he said, by the accusation that he was the head of a criminal gang whose associates included Terry Adams and Reggie Kray.

A series of police investigations, surveillance operations and intelligence reports on Hunt were referred to in evidence during the libel case.

One such intelligence report – Operation Houdini, dated 7 August 2006 – into Hunt, Terry Adams, the head of the Adams family, and two others, laid bare the alleged scale of Hunt’s activities.

So, to return to my Bollox, who on earth at the Met thought it was a good idea to enter into a contract with a businessman who has lent money to an alleged, if not proven, corrupter of police and head of a serious and organised crime syndicate? Was that really your finest hour? Were there no other football clubs available on that date. Wembley, Spurs, Arsenal? Any number of places in Norf Larndarn would have been more suitable and convenient I’m sure. Not Criminal but Naivety at its very best, surely?

I am in no way saying that the owners of West Ham United FC are engaged in any kind of criminal activity, but I do expect the Met to be scrupulous in its dealings with others. Mr Sullivan has seemingly entered into a business transaction with someone who has been labelled a crime syndicate boss, corrupter of police and allegedly ordered the killing of 3 police officers. Those are the allegations, I have no idea where the truth lies, but does it seem like an appropriate transaction for the Met to enter into.

David Gold seems to have no part to play in this as far as I can see, but he was previously married to a lady called Beryl Hunt. I have no idea if she is related to David Hunt or if it is a mere coincidence.

Tell Us The Truth Please Boris/Bernie

I now have a new hobby – Data Miner, and sometimes you unearth real gold.

I have ‘stolen’ a dataset from Boris’s Vaults in Bojo Towers, and what it reveals is something you really ought to know.

I have been, and remain, a vocal critic of some facets of the Metropolitan Police Farce, mainly its SMT and Professional(?) Standards, the boys and girls on the front line do an excellent job under almost impossible conditions and restrictions, and nobody ever seems to go into bat for them.

So I will.

Reproduced below are some TRUTHS, No Spin, No Manipulations, No Falsehoods (at least not by me). They represent the statistics that Mayor Boris is sitting on, doesn’t seem to want us to know.

For ease of reference I will not go back beyond June 2012 but comparable figures exist for most categories back as far as 2008 if you really want to check.

So, here goes, buckle yourself in, the Stats, the Whole Stats and nothing but the Stats

The boys and girls on the Front Line are clearly doing an admirable job. Why aren’t we told that Public Confidence in the Metropolitan Police is steadily INCREASING in all areas of their business?

Why aren’t we told that Stop and Search has actually DECREASED drastically since 2012 but the Arrest Rate has INCREASED?

Why are the Met (and they are not alone in this) being constantly pilloried by our politicians when Boris is sitting on Stats that seem to show them off in a very good light?

Boys and Girls, Ladies and Gents, Hold The Line. You are doing a fantastic job in very difficult times and it will only get worse. But when you go home to your loved ones tonight, do so with your heads held high. We are constantly told that the figures do not lie (unless the SMT have fudged them), and they tell me what a wonderful job you are doing at the grass roots.

Please keep it up.

All this from a Workforce that mainly don’t live in London. For the benefit of any of you who think that this is proof that ‘more can be done with less’ I would invite you to consider the consequences. The stats above are, in my opinion, mighty impressive in most areas. The flip side of that coin is that too many officers are either ‘cracking up’ or leaving, because More isn’t being done ‘with less’ it is being done by ‘stopping the less from taking their Annual Leave and other rostered rest Days‘

Please feel free to share this blogpost with as many journos as you think fit, and let’s see how many will refer to it over the next few days. I have no fear of the figures I have quoted, they are Boris’s figures, it’s up to him to justify them. I have neither changed nor spun them.